Meetings
by Eruanna17
Summary: Lizzie Bennet Diaries - Ch 1: Darcy has several meetings. One planned, and one definitely unexpected. Darcy's point of view before, during, and after his meeting with Lizzie at Pemberley Digital (Episode 78). Ch 2: William Darcy does not make excuses. Except where Lizzie Bennet was concerned. Darcy's thoughts during Episode 80.
1. Meetings

Hello All! If you, like me, love the Lizzie Bennet Diaries and think Episode #78 was their best one yet, hopefully you'll enjoy this short journey into the life of Darcy and my version of what happened before, during, and after.

Update: 1/13 - made a few edits of things I missed the first time around. Thank you all for the great response!

Read, enjoy, and review!

* * *

December 26, 2012

"Will-_iam_!" Gigi whined in his ear as she peered over his shoulder. "You can't work during Christmas! It's the rules!"

"Christmas was yesterday, and therefore, technically over." Darcy answered his sister as he continued to answer emails. "Since I, at your insistence I might add, did not take my laptop with me on our ski trip, there are many items of business that I must oversee personally to ensure things run smoothly when everyone returns from their holiday."

"That's because there's no laptops allowed on the ski trip! And Christmas lasts until New Year's. Everyone knows that." When Darcy's only reply was the clicking of his keyboard, Gigi narrowed her eyes, then grinned.

"William Darcy, if you don't come and play Just Dance with me, I will fill a bucket of water and dump it on your head."

Darcy raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "You wouldn't. The water would damage my laptop and you would have to pay for it."

"Maybe, but I'd still get you to spend some quality time with your favorite baby sister!"

"You're my only baby sister."

"Exactly." Gigi answered, nodding wisely.

Darcy allowed a small grin. "Fine. Give me half an hour."

"Ten minutes."

"Twenty."

"Fifteen?" She bartered with a wide smile.

Sighing in defeat, Darcy nodded. "Alright. Fifteen minutes."

"Sweet! I'll go start it up! And if I don't see you in fifteen minutes, you know what'll happen."

"Yes, yes. Thousands of dollars of liquid damage to my laptop. No worries, I'll be there."

Truth was, he was nearly done sorting through which emails were vital and which were simply for his information.

Like this one, entitled _Names of Interns and Shadowers of Pemberly Digital for Jan 2013_ that was sent to all the higher-ups in his company.

He skimmed the first paragraph, which summarized the history of their highly successful and sought-after internships and other outreaches to the community of rising young designers and hopeful business students and starting scrolling through so he could send back that he read it and everything looked fine.

_Names of participants are as follows:_

_David Adams_

_Elanor Baker_

_Elizabeth Bennet_

_Timothy Brown_

_Mark Davis_

_Emma Fair-_

Suddenly Darcy stopped and scrolled back up, sure his brain was just playing tricks on him.

There it was.

_Elizabeth Bennet._

Lizzie.

She was coming to Pemberley.

Oh God.

He sat back in his chair and made an effort to breathe.

Maybe it wasn't her. Elizabeth Bennet could be a common name, right? And maybe she spelled it with two 't's or one 'n' or something.

He opened a new tab in his browser, then hesitantly started typing. He only got to 'liz' when Chrome helpfully filled in the rest with 'zie bennet diaries', remembering from the last time he searched for them back in November. Damn Google. Although Google probably didn't remember that the last time he searched for that, it was out of confusion and hurt and the results brought blinding illumination and a variety of insults.

Like 'newsie'. And 'robot'.

And 'robot newsie' – which was an image he had never pictured before.

And the spelling of her name was the same. It was really her.

He hit 'enter' almost unconsciously and her smiling youtube video beamed at him from his screen.

_"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune…" There was a pause as she turned the hideously pink shirt around. "Must be in want of a wife."_

_She raised her eyebrows at the screen, inviting her audience to join her skepticism._

_"My mom gave each of us one of these last Christmas. I have yet to wear it… _ever_…"_

"What you doing?" Gigi popped over his shoulder.

Darcy leapt out of his chair.

"Nothing!" He nearly shouted, then hurriedly closed his laptop.

Gigi stared at him as he fidgeted nervously.

"So, are you coming to play with me or what?"

"I… I can't actually. I just got this horrendous headache, so I'm going to take an aspirin and lie down for a while. Maybe later tonight?" He offered shakily.

Gigi studied him for a moment. He actually did look a little pale. She sighed. "Alright. But you promise to actually play tonight?"

"Yes. Absolutely. I will." And then he walked away as quickly as he possibly could.

She waited until she heard the door to his room close, then climbed into his chair and opened his laptop. If something had shaken her usually immovable brother, she wanted to know about it.

The computer blinked on and asked for a password. Gigi shook her head. William always thought no one knew his 'personal secret password', but he underestimated his little sister yet again.

"RandalLThEInestimablE." She sounded the last word out to herself, and grinned as the computer accepted the password and opened up its secrets.

"That is the weirdest name for a dog _ever_," She muttered to herself. "But no, Will got to name him that because 'it's a proud name, a good name, worthy of the best of canines'." She rolled her eyes. "Typical big brother."

As the laptop resumed its functions, she saw the email about interns right next to a youtube video. She read through the list of names, then jumped a little as the video declared, _"My name is Lizzie Bennet, and this is my life."_

Will had mentioned on their ski trip briefly that he had met a girl over the summer named Lizzie, and that she was… surprising.

When she had asked eagerly what had happened, Will had looked down and stated, "I worked up the courage to declare my love and… discovered that her feelings were not… mutual. Quite the opposite in fact."

He seemed so down that she hadn't really pressed about it, even though she would have loved to meet the girl that caused Will to say the l-word. She looked back at the screen, where the title "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries" floated into view.

Not wanting to get caught with Will's laptop, she closed the lid and rushed to her own room to start watching these videos. Maybe she'd learn how this Lizzie Bennet had snuck into her brother's affections.

* * *

January 9, 2013

Darcy sighed. He hated planes.

He loved the idea of superior transportation and the ability to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a little less than an hour and a half, but still. Being trapped in a flying metal tube hurtling through the sky at several hundred miles an hour was rather trying.

He redeemed the time by doing some work, and texting Gigi. He hadn't seen her since the holidays, and wanted to spend what time he could with her.

_Flying into SF for a board meeting. Do you have time for dinner tonight?_

_OMG, YESS! Fleur de lys? _

Darcy smiled. Gigi loved Fleur De Lys, although she invariably got the mac and cheese, despite the fact it was a French restaurant with many more authentic dishes.

_Sounds good. I will see you at the office then._

It was a few hours later, after his phone had informed him several times that Gigi and Fitz were tweeting about something involving animals, that Gigi texted him again.

_So, when does your board mtg get out?_

_Around 5:30 or so._

There was a small pause.

_So… when __exactly__ does it end?_

Darcy stifled a sigh and texted surreptitiously while the accountant presented on their monthly earnings report.

_It means that it will end when all the speakers have finished going over their allotted amount of time._

He nodded along and asked a few questions before they moved on to the next item on the agenda.

_That doesn't help me at all!_

_Nor me._

As he reminded himself that have a boring meeting was good because it meant things were going well, his phone kept buzzing as if it was a vicarious method of Gigi poking him as she did when they were children.

_Are you done yet?_

_Seriously, how long do board meetings last?_

_Okay, let me know as soon as you're done._

_It's 5:45! You have to be done soon!_

_The second you're done you have to come down to the 3__rd__ floor._

_Promise me!_

He sighed and quickly replied: _I promise. We should be finishing up momentarily._

_GREAT! BUT HURRY!_

When they finally adjourned, Darcy took a moment to greet a few of the execs from the other offices, and then excused himself and headed for the elevators, wondering what in the world Gigi was so desperate about.

_Finally done. On my way down._

He could have sworn he heard a shouted 'YES!' through the air ducts.

_HURRY HURRY HURRY!_ Was her immediate response.

Actually concerned now, he pressed 'level 3' a few times in the elevator, even though he knew it didn't help. As soon as the doors opened, he could hear footsteps running down the hall.

"Great! You're here! Quick, follow me!" Gigi shouted, grabbing his hand and dragging him down towards the end of the hallway.

They were so rushed that he could barely ask Gigi, "Why do we have to hurry? I don't understand-" before he was shoved into a room and suddenly realized that there was someone else in there.

Lizzie Bennet.

The girl he hadn't seen in two months.

The girl he had been in love with.

The girl who had rejected him so completely in front of hundreds of thousands of virtual strangers.

The girl who had told him he was proud and selfish and arrogant and that he was the last man in the whole world she could ever fall in love with.

The girl he had been so valiantly trying not to think about since he found out she'd be shadowing his company.

Lizzie stood up with a look of absolute shock on her face, which Darcy could only take as a sign that she didn't know about what Gigi was planning either.

As they stood there in total silence, his eyes were drinking her in like a man dying of thirst. Her face. Her hair. Her eyes. Her lips…

_Stop it!_ He tried to tell his brain to no avail. All the feelings he had carefully packed up and put away in a far corner of his mind had at once exploded and reminded him that he was ever so much still in love with her.

"Darcy!" She finally uttered in a high voice.

He swallowed. "Lizzie." He nodded, keeping a very tight rein on the loose thoughts wreaking havoc in his mind.

"I thought you were in LA!" She said, still in that voice that proclaimed her unpreparedness for the current situation.

"Oh, no, I'm… uh, not." He mentally winced. It seemed he wasn't prepared either.

"Clearly." She answered with a tight irony.

Just as he was sure it couldn't get more awkward, Gigi burst back into the room and sat him down on the small bench, then moved over and sat Lizzie down next to him. Satisfied, she then left again, unaware that Darcy was trying very, very hard not to focus on the fact that their arms were touching. And that her shoulder had leaned against his for a moment. And that she smelled like lavender.

_Stop it!_

While he was trying to imagine what multitude of punishments he could enact on Gigi in revenge for this, Lizzie spoke in a slightly strangled voice.

"Your sister is crazy."

And he could not help but agree. "Yes."

His eyes flicked up to notice her seemingly ever-present camera, the red recording light alerting him that this portion of his life was also going to be captured for posterity.

He wondered if he should apologize. He glanced at her, then the ground, then back at her again.

"I didn't mean to surprise you…" They said together, and this time he held his gaze a little longer.

God, she was beautiful.

"I'm here for a board meeting." He explained as she said that she was here shadowing his company. He didn't want her thinking that he was trying to stalk her or anything.

Smiling a little at their in unison explanations, he said, "I was, uh, aware that you were shadowing Pemberley."

_It nearly gave me a heart attack, so I should remember it._

_Say something nice!_ His inner voice commanded.

"I hoped you've enjoyed your stay."

"Yes. This place is amazing, and everyone has been incredibly kind."

"Even my sister?" He asked, knowing that Lizzie would be completely justified in never wanting to speak to Gigi again. He was certainly considering it.

"Yes…" she answered, "In her own _special_ way."

He allowed a real smile to appear on his face. "I'm glad." And he was. He really wanted her to like Pemberley. And his sister.

And him.

Did she still hate him? From her reaction, he couldn't tell. As he stared at her, he thought that maybe she didn't. At least, she hadn't tried to run away yet.

"Anyways, I have to go," she told him, the high, uncomfortable voice back again.

Never mind.

"So soon?" He asked, unable to keep a trace of longing out of his voice.

"Well, I'm having dinner down by the marina," she explained, nodding a little.

He glanced down and tried to show that he had changed from who she thought he was. That he could be kind, and gentlemanly.

"May I offer you a ride?" He said, and had to stop himself from adding a 'please' on the end.

"Oh, that's… that's alright. I can walk." She smiled nervously at him.

"Ah." He breathed a ghost of a chuckle as he remembered his first experience with the San Francisco slopes.

Making a very conscious effort to not sound snobbish or condescending or douchey or any of the other adjectives Lizzie had used to describe him, he tried to offer her some advice.

"The hills in this city can be quite unforgiving." He told her, unconsciously leaning in closer to her.

She gave him a strange look. "I've heard." Her blue eyes met his gray ones for a long moment, then she looked back towards the camera. "But, I'd like to see the city."

This gentle rejection only reminding him of his earlier, harsher one, he shifted his gaze back to the ground. "Understood."

Perhaps it was time for him to depart.

"Well, I should…" He started vaguely, while getting up. Lizzie rose with him.

"Have a…" She paused, then collected herself. "Have a good day, Darcy." Her voice was uncertain, but friendly.

"See you around." He answered, just to watch her reaction. He was gratified to see that she did not show disgust at the suggestion.

"If there's anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable…" Darcy offered completely sincerely.

She smiled nervously, then did something that literally shocked him.

She touched his arm and said, "Thank you."

She had touched him. Willingly. Out of thanks. And friendliness. Maybe something more?

Her actions seemed to surprise herself, as Lizzie quickly turned and shut off the camera.

She looked back at him, then bit her lip in a nervous, adorable way. He belatedly realized that she was probably trying to find a polite way to leave.

Since he couldn't move if his life depended on it, he simply reached for the door and opened it.

"After you," he offered with a slight bow.

Lizzie smiled tightly at him, then grabbed her purse and fled at the most normal pace she could manage.

He stood there and watched her go until she opened the door to the stairs, glanced back, saw him watching her, then dashed into the stairwell.

As soon as she left his sight, he let out a very long breath. Finally able to move, he walked out of the office and saw Gigi hiding out by a plant, furiously texting. He walked past her without saying a word, and she had to run a little to catch up with him.

He called the elevator and waited for it to arrive, Gigi peering at him from every angle.

"So… how mad are you?"

He waited until the elevator chimed and the doors opened, and then stepped in.

"Okaaayyy, so the 'not talking to me' kind of mad. I can work with that."

Her phone buzzed and she texted back in reply. Glancing at her screen out of the corner of his eye, he saw the name and set his jaw.

"You can tell Fitz that since she did not murder me and I, in turn, did not murder you, things went… well. Considering."

Gigi winced.

"Okay, so maybe I should warn you next time."

"Next time?"

"Oh, come on! You're both at the same company! You'll have to run into each other sometime!"

"She seemed perfectly content with us at different offices of the same company."

"Were you?"

He didn't answer that.

They reached the ground floor and as the valet brought their car around, Gigi looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You're not _really_ mad, are you?"

Darcy sighed. "I suppose not."

"Good! After all, I did just re-introduce you to the love of your life."

He glared.

"Which went well, apparently!"

Darcy now gave her a harrowing big brother look, which she ignored.

"Anyway, seeing as how this is the first night with my brother in the city in like, forever, can we get a picture to commemorate the moment?" She beamed at him hopefully.

He slumped in resignation. "Fine."

"Okay, smile!"

He didn't.

Gigi studied the picture, then gave him a look for ignoring her direction. As they both got into the car, Darcy buckled his seatbelt and started the ignition. He was about to put it into gear when he saw a certain redhead poke her head out of the doors, look both ways, then sigh in relief and start walking down the sidewalk.

Darcy watched her stride down the sidewalk, gaze pensive, looking around at the beautiful city, every now and then a thought wrinkling her forehead. He let out an audible sigh that startled even him, and then glanced over at Gigi, who was staring at her phone with a poorly concealed smile.

She looked up at him and asked innocently, "We could always offer her a ride."

He realized that he was unconsciously rubbing his arm where she had touched him. Tearing his gaze from the girl walking away from him, Darcy put the car in drive. "She already said no."

Gigi seemed surprised, then, as they passed Lizzie Bennet by, said, "Well, maybe next time she won't."

As they drove toward the marina, Darcy could only think to himself;

_One can only hope._


	2. Verisimilitude

_**Verisimilitude: (noun) The quality of appearing to be true or real; the property of resembling reality**_

* * *

William Darcy did not make excuses.

Even as a child, he would confess to his actions, no matter the consequences.

_"I broke the window because George bet I couldn't throw farther than him."_

_"I gave the dog my cauliflower because I hate cauliflower and I think they look like dead trees."_

_"I told Gigi Santa wasn't real because he's not. I didn't know she'd cry."_

But he found himself making more and more excuses as time went on, for some reason.

He began using a corner office on the third floor, even though his office on the fifth floor was much larger and had a better view of the city. When his assistant asked why, he could only say, "I… find a change of pace on occasion helps… challenge the mind."

His assistant raised an eyebrow, having spent the last five years learning the immutability of Darcy's routine. When Darcy offered no more explanation, the assistant resigned himself to this abnormality and asked when he should bring Mr. Darcy's files down to his newer office. As they talked, Darcy felt a large amount of relief that his "reason" had been accepted.

He also became more reluctant to travel. While a trip to New York would have normally been accepted as part of a CEO's duties, he decided that joining the meeting remotely would be a great opportunity to test the newest version of their video communication software.

Every time he walked down the hall, he glanced at the small office that was being used by Elizabeth Bennet. Sometimes he could hear her talking to herself, or maybe her camera, and sometimes he swore he could hear her singing.

He instinctively scanned every room for a dark redhead as soon as he entered, regardless of where he was. So when he actually saw a redhead wandering down the hallway, he paused for a moment to see if it was really her. But of course it was. The way she dressed, the way she walked, the movement of her hair was too ingrained in Darcy's skull to pretend she was anyone besides Lizzie Bennet.

When she turned and saw him, he watched her face flicker with surprise, then hesitation, and then she bit her lip and nodded, as if deciding something. She headed for him, and it took a considerable amount of effort to keep his pace the same.

_Not too slow, else she'll think I don't want to see her._

_Not too fast, or she'll know how much I want to see her._

_Oh God, since when was walking so difficult?_

Thankfully, they met at the intersection of halls outside her office and stopped simultaneously.

"Lizzie," he started in what he hoped was a normal voice. "May I help you?"

"I'm looking for your sister."

He tried to stifle the feeling of disappointment and focus on the fact that Lizzie and Gigi seemed to be on good enough terms to seek each other out voluntarily.

"She's at tennis practice," he explained. When Lizzie looked down and pursed her lips, he couldn't help but ask, "Do you need something?"

"Um…" She glanced down at her office, then back up at him. "Maybe?" She responded uncertainly.

Before he knew it, he was following the girl of his dreams back into the room where his sister had trapped them together just a week ago. Part of his mind was recounting that experience as another part commented on how very nicely those boots accented her legs and how her dress brought out the blue in her eyes when he realized that she was talking.

"… this thing that I started doing to act out conversations with people I didn't want to be on camera or to know about these videos, like my mother and Catherine De Bourgh, and anyways I call it costume theater."

"Yes, I am… familiar with it." He shot her a quick look and saw her wince in realization that he was one of the more commonly portrayed caricatures in her videos.

"Sorry." She mumbled softly.

"No, it's… alright." He amended, trying to let her know that he now understood why she had thought of him that way, and that he had put much effort into improving his social interactions with strangers; not so much for the strangers' benefit as for his own, in hopes that by self-improvement, he could give Lizzie a new way to think of him.

During his long silent monologue, he realized Lizzie was waiting for some sort of response.

"So, you'll do it?" She asked, disbelief poorly hidden in her features.

He took a breath, then tried to clarify exactly was expected of him in this exercise.

"Who would you need me to, ah, portray?"

He knew he would be a poor choice for Bing or Fitz, or God-forbid George. He had a hard enough time voicing his own thoughts clearly. Seeing things from another point of view was… difficult for him. But he was trying. Trying so very, very hard.

"You, actually." She answered, surprising him.

His eyes flicked to the camera, wondering if there was a catch to this. "And you would be playing…?"

"Me."

Darcy blinked, then smiled a little. "That would certainly make the costumes easier to obtain." He observed dryly, raising his eyebrows at the camera.

Lizzie rolled her eyes and looked down at her hands.

"Look, there's this theory about levels of mediation in media," As she explained more about her particular subject of learning, she started becoming more animated, " that says it's possible for artificiality to both remind the audience that what they're seeing is a construction, while at the same time, adding to their level of immersion. I thought…" She stopped gesturing and shook her head. "Forget it. It's stupid."

And then Darcy realized that she believed he was mocking her, when nothing could be further from the truth.

"You thought," he continued her sentence in hopes that she would see that he, in fact, did understand what she was trying to attain with this concept. "that costume theater as ourselves would remind the audience that this isn't a conversation we would naturally have, but because of that, the obviously constructed nature of the scene would, by its very artificiality, create its own sense of…" and because he found that staring into Lizzie's eyes made him feel almost poetical, he ended with, "verisimilitude."

Lizzie blinked at him, spared a look at the camera, then turned back to him in disbelief. "Have you taken Dr. Gardiner's seminar on Interactive Media?"

Darcy found that he could not look away from those eyes. "No, but I am a fan of her work," he sort-of lied. Truth was, he had taken great pains to find out how she came to shadow Pemberley, which led to discovering she was finishing her thesis under Dr. Gardiner, which in turn resulted in learning anything he could about Lizzie's chosen potential profession. He pretended for a while that it was to help Pemberley improve its own field of interactive media, but sitting next to her in this room forced him to admit the real reason.

He wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to make her smile, make her laugh. He wanted to surprise her.

God, he was so in love.

"So… you'll do it?" Lizzie queried again, still uncertain.

Inspiration struck. He wanted to surprise her, after all.

He nodded to himself, then told her, "Just a moment. Excuse me."

Her puzzled gaze followed him out, and it took great effort to not look back. He reached his office and opened the drawer that contained his extra ties and bowties, in case he needed to change his neckwear during the day. He hadn't worn any bowties since he had given her the letter after his disastrous encounter with Lizzie in November. And there, on the coat rack, was the newsie cap that he had worn that one time to that one wedding, and now represented him in all of Lizzie's costume theater.

Darcy took a breath then donned the cap and a red bowtie. No matter what the situation, it was a chance for him to talk to Lizzie Bennet and convince her that he wasn't the stuck-up jerk she had met last April. Or over the summer. Or in the fall.

As he walked back into the room, he was gratified to see Lizzie's jaw drop open. She turned her look of shock to the camera, and he bit back a smile that he had actually stunned Lizzie speechless.

"It was the closest I could find on short notice." He remarked, knowing that Gigi was going to tease him mercilessly for _joking_ with Lizzie Bennet. _Twice_.

With an expression that clearly read, 'well, alright then', Lizzie reached over and grabbed her plaid shirt.

"Is there any kind of script for this?" He asked as she shrugged on her garment.

"Nope. I figured we'd wing it." Lizzie replied in clipped tones.

Suddenly he wondered if this was such a good idea after all. After a moment of discomfort, he pulled himself together. "Okay."

There were a few seconds of silence as Darcy wondered what he had gotten himself into.

Then, in one breath, as if she was removing a dam from a reservoir, she asked "Why didn't you tell Bing about my videos?"

Well. That wasn't the costume theater he was expecting. Very aware that this was one of the reasons she had said meant she could never love him, he tried to answer simply.

"I didn't think it was my place. You've respected my confidences, after all."

She turned to him with furrowed brows. "Really? What about when Charlotte and I-"

"If I knew a Darvid, perhaps he would feel differently." He glanced at the lens, then back to Lizzie. He didn't mind her telling that part of the letter. The fact that she had kept what he had said about Gigi secret meant far more to him. She helped protect Gigi, and that gesture went a long way with him.

"I… sort of, thought you would tell him." Her voice was a mixture of anger and disappointment.

"Would you want your best friend to see you confess to meddling in his affairs?" He questioned back. He had been trying to help Bing, despite what Lizzie thought. And what Bing would probably think if he ever found the videos.

"I think he knows you meddle in his affairs."

Looking back, maybe Bing did know, and just trusted his friends to know when to meddle.

"Perhaps." But even if he wanted to change the past, he couldn't. "But by your own admission, Jane has moved on with her life."

Lizzie stared at her lap. "That's true."

Darcy couldn't help but recount the reason he had listed during their meeting at Collins & Collins, albeit in a gentler phrase. "And if Bing truly felt a strong attachment, would he have been so easily parted from her?"

Raising her gaze to the heavens in frustration, Lizzie argued, "Isn't finding happiness hard enough? Why is it your job, or my job, or anyone else's job to test the strength of their relationship?"

He had to think about that for a moment, then tilted his head as he tried to prove his point in a non-arrogant way.

"If Bing were to learn the true nature of Jane's feelings and seek her out… do you think she would take him back?"

Lizzie hesitated. "I'm honestly not sure."

"Then perhaps meddling, even with the best of intentions, would only cause them both more pain."

She looked up at him, her voice soft. "Do you think Bing still cares about Jane?"

And because this wasn't verisimilitude, because he wanted to talk to her as himself, because he wanted to give an honest answer, he took off his hat before he spoke.

"I think… you should ask him."

And because maybe, just maybe, he wasn't talking about Bing.

Her eyes met his; uncertain, confused, dark and endless. Staring into those eyes always brought his confession from November back to his lips.

_Lizzie Bennet, I am in love with you._

Catching himself, he forced his gaze down to the newsie cap in his hands.

"Was – how was that? Was that alright?" Lizzie was the only one who could turn the always eloquent William Darcy into a stuttering fool.

Jumping as if his change of tone had shocked her, Lizzie peeked at the camera and quickly divested herself of her shirt.

"Yes. Thank you. Very helpful." She muttered, looking everywhere but him.

Trying his best to not sound heartbroken at his first honest conversation with her being described as 'helpful', Darcy managed to say, "Oh. Good. Um… is there anything else?"

"No, that's all. I – I know you're busy." And there was a hint of the awkward tone she had used when Gigi had forced them to talk a week ago.

Stifling the surprising amount of disappointment at yet another gentle rejection, Darcy fidgeted a little before nodding and replying, "Very well."

He got up to leave, and couldn't help but look at her one more time, taking her in like a last breath before plunging back into the Lizzie-less expanse.

And there were no excuses to make. He still loved her – but more deeply, more passionately, more desperately than before. Any attempt to deny it would not even have a semblance of verisimilitude.

He loved Elizabeth Bennet for the same reason the sun shone – there was no way he could not.


End file.
